All American Ads: 40's
Ed. Jim Heimann
Taschen, $60, 768 pages

All American Ads: 50's
Ed. Jim Heimann
Taschen, $60, 928 pages

A Big Life In Advertising
Mary Wells Lawrence
Knopf, $37.95, 307 pages

And Now a Few Laughs from Our Sponsor
The Best of 50 Years of Radio Commercials
by Larry Oakner
Wiley Books, $46.50, 215 pages

ADS as ART

by Mike Gange

"The ads are by far the best part of any magazine or newspaper," wrote Marshall McLuhan in 1964. "More pain and thought, more wit and art, go into the making of an ad than into any prose feature of press or magazine. Ads are news," said the Canadian media guru, who first used the phrase "the medium is the message" in a speech to the National Council of Teachers of English, in November 1958.

Four new books about ads are full of excellent pedagogical possibilities for teachers of fine arts and media studies courses as they help us understand the brilliant creativity that goes into ads and the behind the scenes work involved in ad campaigns. All aptly illustrate McLuhan’s point that there is an amazing creativity in advertising. Jim Heinman’s two books speak volumes without much editorial text, as Mr. Heinman prefers to let the ads speak for themselves. Mary Wells Lawrence shows us how creative campaigns develop and Larry Oakner gives a rare, insiders understanding of how certain radio ads have become legendary.

All American Ads: 40's and All American Ads: 50's edited by Jim Heinman (Taschen Publishers) are huge because of their size: All American Ads: 40's has more than 1000 ads, while All American Ads: 50's has more than 1400 ads. And they are huge for what they tell us about ourselves. They are a nostalgic look at capitalism, before brand names meant consumer branding. Mr. Heinman found his ads in collections of popular magazines of the day: Look, The Billboard, Post, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Fortune, Saturday Evening Post, Liberty, and Dime Detective, to name but a few. Compared with ads from today’s magazines, the retro ads are often flirtatious without being overtly sexual, reflecting the values and life styles centering on the nuclear family, domestic bliss and stereotypical role models.

Along with being a wonderful source for comparing pop cultural interpretations from 50 years ago with those of the present, the ads in Mr. Heinman’s books are impressive for their hand-drawn art, presenting an artist’s construction of the ideal. Many of the ads from that time would never see publication today, some being politically incorrect and some being downright misleading. Those ads, especially, give us an eye-opening history lesson, too.

Developing a concept and an ad campaign to get those ads to speak to us is a completely different, but fascinating creative process. Mary Wells Lawrence was directly involved in many television and print ad campaigns influencing consumer spending and behavior for more than three decades. While you might not recognize her name, you have likely seen her ads. In A Big Life In Advertising (Knopf), Mrs. Wells (who later changed her married name to Lawrence) tells how her creativity helped shape many well known advertising campaigns, like "At Ford, Quality is Job One," "Nobody beats Midas. Nobody," and the much copied "I love NY" replacing the word love with the stylized red heart.

Media studies and marketing teachers will appreciate the story of how Mary Wells got Miles Pharmaceuticals to update the TV ads which once featured the animated cartoon figure "Speedy" selling Alka Seltzer stomach tablets. She learned that for aspirin to break through the pain barrier often required two tablets, not just one, to do the job. As aspirin is one of the ingredients that make Alka-Seltzer effective, it seemed natural to take two, but the directions on the packages said to take only one. Plus, the old Speedy commercials demonstrated only one fizzing in water. "We changed the directions and began to show two Alka-Seltzers dropping into a glass of water in every TV commercial. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Miles began selling twice as much Alka-Seltzer," she writes.

Although television advertising has eclipsed print and radio in budget, audience reach, and glamour, radio ads still have a way of finding our subconscious, especially if humor is the creative hook. Larry Oakner, a 30-year adverting veteran, looks at some of the best radio ads ever, in And Now a Few Laughs from Our Sponsor (Wiley Publishers). Mr. Oakner details how some ad campaigns came about, then proceeds to de-construct campaigns used for products like Bell Brand Potato Chips, Molson Beer and Motel 6. Compellingly, Mr. Oakner doesn’t just TELL about, but by using real advertising scripts, SHOWS us why they were successful in basic advertising principles. Many of the ads were so creative as to be memorable long after their air dates. An audio CD of 25 ads is included so readers can confirm for themselves that Larry Oakner has indeed selected some of the most creative ads in the history of radio.

The man who said "The Medium is the Message" apparently loved ads, tearing them out of magazines on a regular basis and keeping thousands in boxes stacked in his office. Jim Heinman, Mary Wells Lawrence and Larry Oakner help us appreciate and better understand the message, no matter what the medium.